Bowel Obstruction Detection and Localization on Abdominal CT with Deep Learning
Authors: Moritz Vandenhirtz, Andrea Agostini, Dana Belde, Mélanie Roschewitz, Ismaiel Chikh Bakri, Tilo Niemann, André Euler, Julia E Vogt
Organizations: Department of Computer Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland · Department of Radiology, Kantonsspital Baden, affiliated Hospital for Research and Teaching of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zurich, Baden, Switzerland · Department of Forensic Medicine Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Bowel obstruction is a common and potentially life-threatening gastrointestinal condition. In the face of rising diagnostic workloads, the automated diagnosis of bowel obstruction on CT scans supports radiologists by accelerating detection and improving patient outcomes. In this work, we propose a deep learning framework with a multi-task objective that jointly detects bowel obstruction and localizes its transition zone. Additionally, we extend the method with an inherently interpretable classification method that locates the suspected transition point within a slice. It does so by learning a probabilistic selection mask that faithfully bases the classifier's prediction solely on a small image region. The proposed method is evaluated on an internal dataset comprising 1,427 abdominal CTs. Here, the model achieves an obstruction detection test accuracy of 93% and a Hit@10 transition zone localization of 95%. As the first method to reliably localize the transition zone, this marks a significant step towards the automated identification of this critical clinical landmark.